Foulline - Views from out of bounds.

QB or not QB Say this for Bears coach Dave Wannstedt...

February 13, 1997|By Steve Rosenbloom.

QB or not QB

Say this for Bears coach Dave Wannstedt: He's talking a lot straighter about quarterback Erik Kramer's status if the Bears get Rick Mirer than he did during the alleged competition between kickers Kevin Butler and Carlos Huerta last year.

Blasting off?

One guy expected to be a bargain free agent is Carolina wideout Raghib Ismail. There simply won't be as much money available this year, and some people speculate that the former Notre Damer could be this season's Desmond Howard--a big-time college receiver who has underachieved but might be ripe for doing some damage.

Burned up

That gala grand opening for Iron Mike's Grille last week featured a lot of cigar smoke, but it was BYOC--bring your own Cuban.

Seems that even though the second floor featured a humidor and a nice selection of cigars, no one was supposed to open it because the restaurant didn't have a tobacco license, a co-conspirator said.

Jeez, the mayor shows up at the place, and Ditka has to wait for a license? Chicago was a lot more fun when clout was the coin of the realm.

Who dat?

The New Orleans Times-Picayune said Ditka stiffed the paper Saturday at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis. Ditka supposedly agreed to a Q&A interview, but never showed. The reporter waited three hours before going back to his hotel room. No message, no nothing.

Maybe Ditka was still in the line for cigar licenses.

Say what?

Interesting comment from the Gimmick Formerly Known As Dennis Rodman about cameraman Eugene Amos, the guy he kicked and paid $200,000 and who was arrested for assaulting his girlfriend.

"What would be a bigger story," Rodman asked, "Me beating my wife or girlfriend or me kicking a photographer?"

Thing is, between Amos and Rodman's ex-wife's claims, he's done both.

D.C. Follies

As quarterback Heath Shuler left Washington, he said nice things about the Redskins organization but slapped the fans who booed the failed first-round draft pick, saying, "They'll never be happy."

Shuler should've talked to former Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann about the pressure.

"If you're the quarterback of the Redskins and you're winning," Theismann said, "you are potentially the most powerful man in the nation because the other person who shares this city does not enjoy that celebrity status."

What's the goal here?

Oh, so now the Blackhawks think they need a big, tough center. Well, if that guy can also score, then the Hawks will never get him. And if he can't score, then you can skip the team's ad campaign for playoff tickets.

Winning ways

In winning his 1,000th game as coach over the weekend, Detroit's Scotty Bowman reached a milestone that no one will touch. To put that into perspective, in less than 30 years in the NHL, Bowman has more than half as many victories as the Hawks' franchise does in 70-plus seasons. Bowman also has five Stanley Cups to the Hawks' three.

In fact, two of Bowman's Cups came against the Hawks, and worse, both came on Chicago ice.

Remember the gore

Quotable

Miami coach Pat Riley, after his Heat beat the Detroit Pistons, asked what the result said about the pecking order in the Eastern Conference: "There's only one peck, and that's Chicago. Everybody else is in a free-for-all."